Page 33 of Mountain Void

She gripped the metal railing with both hands, the cold of it biting into her palms, and breathed in the crisp alpine air.

A few minutes.

That was all she needed.

She heard the balcony door open behind her, but kept her gaze on the lights below. Footsteps came, unhurried. A moment later, the weight of a jacket settled over her shoulders—warm, and smelling faintly of him in a way that was entirely unfair. Nobody should smell that good.

The warmth seeped through the thin fabric of her dress, making her shiver in a way the cold hadn’t managed.

“You’re freezing,” he said quietly.

“I just needed a bit of fresh air.”

She pulled the jacket closer around her body. Lorenz moved to stand beside her at the railing. Even standing there in his shirt sleeves, she could feel the steady heat of him through the night air. His body had always run hot, where hers ran cold. It was one of those small things she’d forgotten she’d missed.

Inside, the party hummed faintly.

“Charlie—“

“I should go back inside,” she said. But she didn’t move.

Two men stepped out mid-conversation, stopping when they noticed them.

“Lorenz,” one of them said. “There you are.”

Commandant Beau Fontaine. She knew him from the day Théo had gone missing, remembered how calm he’d been when everything around them hadn’t.

His gaze moved to Charlie. To his credit he gave no visible reaction to the jacket draped over her shoulders, and surprised her by remembering her name.

“Ms. Brooks. It’s good to see you again.”

“Commandant Fontaine.”

As Charlie extended her hand in greeting, the commandant turned to his companion, a shorter, rounder man who wore his suit with the ease of someone who’d been photographed in one regularly. Charlie placed him before the introduction came. She’d seen photos of him.

“Mayor Chevalier,” Lorenz said, “this is Charlie Brooks. Ms. Brooks is a teacher at one of the international schools in the valley.”

“A pleasure, Ms. Brooks. Kids are our most important resource. Our future,” the man said, pumping her hand with practiced warmth.

“Mr. Whittaker, our principal, is sorry he couldn’t be here tonight,” she said quickly. The years of parent-teacher evenings and school fundraisers hadn’t been entirely wasted on her.

“He sent you,” Mayor Chevalier said gallantly. “We can’t but be grateful. You are … American, right?”

Charlie nodded. “From Florida.”

“Florida. Very different from Chamonix, but both beautiful places.”

Charlie was grateful he didn’t ask how she’d ended up in the valley.

“The children are still talking about the visit to meet the PGHM,” Charlie said, and this part required no performance. It was easy to speak the truth. “They benefited tremendously from the visit.”

“Community partnerships are essential. Especially with budget discussions coming up,” the mayor said shrewdly.

Charlie nodded. The conversation went on for a few more minutes, until Beau and the mayor excused themselves, leaving her alone with Lorenz once again.

“Thank you for that,” Lorenz said.

Charlie shrugged. “I only told the truth. It was a genuinely good thing you did for those kids. I know it might seem like nothing to you, but for them, it’s a piece of the real world that they rarely get to see.”